Field of the Invention
The invention lies in the field of coatings. The invention relates to a process for the vacuum coating of metal components, in which the metal components, in all their regions, are uniformly preheated to a temperature of approximately 800xc2x0 C. in a vacuum chamber by electron radiation.
A coating process is disclosed in German Published, NonProsecuted Patent Application DE 197 03 338 A1. The prior art process is used to preheat workpieces during vacuum coating so that the workpiece or metal component in question can be preheated uniformly using electron beams in a vacuum chamber for the workpiece to be subsequently coated in vacuo.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a process for the vacuum coating of metal components that overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and that provides a process for producing a homogeneous oxide layer on metal components with which it is possible to apply the oxide layer in a controlled and reproducible manner.